Rethinking Learning in Higher Education

The European Commission stresses the importance of innovation,
research, high-quality education and lifelong learning as Europe
develops as a knowledge-based society and economy. In order to
enhance the scientific knowledge on innovative pedagogies and
accelerate new forms of learning and teaching, more
interdisciplinary learning sciences research is required. This
research can inspire to a faster and more progressive change in
Europe’s education and training systems. Consequently, the
overall goal of this research project is to gain a refined knowledge
on how students come to understand and how faculty can support
learning with understanding, creating effective learning
environments. The objectives tackled are as follows: (1) In order to
refine the scientific knowledge on how students come to understand,
cognition will be studied in its physical, social and cultural
context, conducting an interdisciplinary literature review and
outlining a sensitizing framework; (2) Explorative case study
research on how expert instructors in the field of education design
effective learning environments that engage students in deep
learning will be conducted. In this respect, three selected courses
at Harvard Graduate School of Education will be investigated to
inform the theory-building process of the study; (3) Characteristics
of effective learning environments will be derived from learning
sciences research (see 1, 2) to guide the development of a new
learning model; (4) Good practices as well as implications for
curriculum development and learning and teaching in higher education
will be drawn from the American context, with the purpose of
transferring and implementing the insights gained there, to the
European context.